“Island, IS”

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Via Pitchfork

In which the guy whose last full-length was synonymous with solitary reflection suddenly finds himself in a crowd, singing from the pulsing center of a mass of musical energy. The kinetic buzz surrounding Justin Vernon here comes courtesy of instrumental rock outfit Collections of Colonies of Bees, who have joined forces with the Bon Iver leader for a project called Volcano Choir. "Island, IS", the first track released from their upcoming record Unmap, finds the Bees locked in the kind of quasi-classical Reich/Riley/Glass minimalism post-rock outfits have always dug, see-sawing between chords built from rapidly repeating, percussive tones. But underneath the tight grid of colorful sound, the drumming is loose and swinging, inviting Vernon to slur his vocals and play around with the beat. And the new setting helps clarify what makes his music special. Vernon's music isn't R&B, obviously, but the dude is a soul singer, able to convey a wide range of feeling with small vocal gestures. He carries the meaning of "Island, IS" with an extended vowel, a quick jump down an octave, a non-sequitur "shhh...." Which is good, since words, buried in some weird processing, are here hard to make out. But that's not an issue; I find myself leaning into this one, trying to get closer to it, waiting for the layers to peel back when they're ready.